Clare Gamelin

Since many of our native plants go dormant in the summer as a survival technique to dry summers, I’m saying “advantageous for the summer-dry months” as it relates to the clients who prefer to see green plants and leaves still hanging onto their Buckeyes. Alternatively, Juncus, Western Sword Fern, and Iris, for instance, often receive summer water…[Read more]

Glenn Do you really need to irrigate these plants that you mention in summer? They are native to N California, and so in a “natural” context do not get any summer water. Why would you need to irrigate them in a cultured situation?

I seem to have left off my website address.
http://www.lefflandscape.com
Comments are appreciated about whether or not I should change it to be interactive.
Thanks

I created my website a few weeks back, just with a taste of my work, I figure if prospective employers/ clients like what they see, they can ask for more.

First attempt at this, any criticism would be helpful. Let me know what you think.

http://www.glennsovie.com

I primarily use my website for my portfolio.

It was done several years ago. Now with blogging supposedly so important in marketing, I’m wondering if I need to re-do my site so that it can be interactive. Any opinions?

Ashley- In urban settings, supplemental irrigation is advantageous for the summer-dry months. Specifically, I’ve used inline subsurface drip. Quality growing medium like compost is important too, along with mycorrhizal fungi applications to help plants thrive through root establishment. Some native plant material I have used are: Juncus…[Read more]

does anyone know how rain gardens thrive in the Bay Area? I am wondering because right now, its the rainy season, so everything is getting a lot of water – but when it is summer and dry, how do the plants in the rain garden get their water? What plants do you suggest putting in the rain garden?

Hello all
For those of you in the San Fran Bay Area registration for the tour of East Bay native plant gardens just opened. Went last year, will go again this year. http://www.BringingBacktheNatives.net

Semiarundaria fastuosum is a good screen variety. Dense and upright.

Two years after clearing the invasives in my part of the creekbed in my backyard – you know, plants like Arundo and Tamarisk (how did that get there?) and Washingtonia palms (we all know how that got there) – the birds were kind enough to plant 3 Quercus agrifolia and a Toyon that is now about 12′ high. None of these are requiring additional water…[Read more]

Christmas berry!? They can make a landscape designer a hero!

Cover letter help! Anyone have some good tips for writing great cover letters?

Just got a new website up, thought I would share http://www.nickaceto.com

I’m a residential Landscape Designer in San Diego’s East County. Has anyone mentioned Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano? They have a nice newsletter as well you can subscribe to.
I like to incorporate garden-friendly california natives in my designs.

Here are some other resources. las pilitas nursery. 2 locations. North San Diego county (Escondido) & San Luis Obispo. http://www.laspilitas.com. website is deep with info. Another is “California Native Plants for the Garden” by Carol Bornstein, Bart O’brien & David Fross. Cachuma Press. David Fross was my Cal Natives Professor at Cal Poly, SLO. Lots of…[Read more]

Agree with Ken and Blake. There’s also some nurseries that specialize in natives. Yerba Buena Nursery south of SF has a demonstration garden with labeled plants and the owners are VERY knowledgeable. Also, North Coast Nursery and Cal Flora in Sonoma County. Also, it’s good to be mindful of the fact that California has many totaly different native…[Read more]

Katrina, to clarify, UCBG and Tilden are in Berkeley and Merritt College is in Oakland.

The South Lake Tahoe and North Lake Tahoe Demonstration Gardens show a plethora of California Native plants used in the high Sierra. These gardens give great examples of California Native plants at diffrent stages of development.

Agree with Blake — the Merritt program is great. I also volunteered at Tilden’s native nursery on Thursday mornings — propagating, etc. It was a great way to learn about natives. U.C. Botanical Garden and the Tilden Park (native) Botanical Garden are both stunning places to check out CA natives in a park setting.

you may also want to check out the horticulture program at Merritt College for i.d. classes. http://www.merrritt.edu